Does anyone have any experience bring pets (dogs, cats, horses, etc) with them to professional or graduate school. What if you go to school in a different country-were you able to bring your horse with you?
It’s been years, ok, well, decades, but I made the decision to sell my horse before leaving for vet school, as he was a bit of a problem child and I knew I would not be able to spend the time with him he needed. If he’d been the type to not be affected much by inconsistent work or to have been leasable, though, I would have brought him along. Vet schools, unsurprisingly, tend to have a lot of students who have animals of varying sorts and numbers and it’s pretty easy to network and find out places to live/board, deals to work out (faculty or permanent staff, for instance, may have barns and offer stalls or even homes to students), people to take care of your critters on a temporary basis (usual cautions apply, there was a bit of a kerfluffle in my residency when one student left a large boa in the care of another student, and said boa was impregnated to the tune of a few dozen babies). Some schools are more readily amenable to continuing horse ownership than others. UPenn is pretty dreadful (unless dramatic changes have occurred) commuting to and from the actual main school to where any reasonable horsekeeping could take place, for instance. It’d be great if you were a large animal intern or resident exclusively at New Bolton, 'cause damn, it’s in the heart of PA horse country, but a general vet student spending most of their time on the downtown campus would be a bit rough for all but the most dedicated, I would think. UCDavis, UW Madison, UMN are a lot more viable due to the physical proximity of the campus to horse keeping areas in those towns. I do not have personal experience with other vet schools.
Internationally, the usual rules and regulations regarding import/export apply, of course, but certainly many international students and residents will bring animals with them (interns often do not, as internships are usually only a year, and they find care alternatives until they are more settled, but then you wind up with things like the boa kerfluffle). One of my last private practice actions prior to going to my residencey was doing a health certificate on a New Bolton equine resident’s dog before she went back to Australia. I can’t think of any students or residents who were international and brought horses with them, specifically, but I can’t think of why not, if the resources were there and the need to have THIS horse rather than selling at home and buying anew were compelling.
There are various oddities regarding various species (it is illegal to have domestic ferrets in California, for instance), and specifics in transport from rabies-rife (North America) to rabies-free (UK, Australia), but plenty of people take animals of all sorts along with them to grad school in general and vet school specifically.
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Texas A&M- College Station, it was cheaper for my daughter to keep her horse there than for me here at home… plenty of close by affordable places…at least there were ten years ago
She was not in the vet program but the vet school was next to her campus
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I went to graduate school in the same country - but from Vermont to Florida. When I was an undergraduate, my horse stayed home and I went home every weekend, but that wouldn’t work in graduate school. I tried a lease situation, the family knew him (I’d been boarding him at their house) - but it didn’t work out (quickly). I was thankful to be able to take him with me. I paid a transport company, the family got him on the truck (and did the pre-work making sure he had all the paperwork) and I met him in Florida. He did fine, he was on the truck for 56 hours and got off as if he’d been around the block. Fast forward 4 years and I finished graduate school and was moving to New Jersey for work. This time I did the pre-work (it’s just a health certificate within certain time of travel, which I can’t remember anymore, and making sure they have negative coggins), my barn owner trailered him to Jacksonville to spend the night and get on the big trailer coming north. He arrived approximately 24 hours later not doing well, vet came out and again the next morning (I was late to my first day of work … they understood, thankfully) and finally with fluids he started doing better. It was the same transport company, but I think the overnight at a strange barn (that I didn’t get a chance to check out beforehand) was not a good thing.
I was VERY glad to have him with me - though I joked he was on semi-retirement since the weather (more than my schedule) was so vastly different for him. I did go out as much as I could (at least 4 times a week), but he was further away than I would have liked at 30 miles. I worked off part of my board to be able to afford it all.
And I brought my cat with me (traveled via car and stayed in Motel 6’s that allowed pets) to Florida as well, and then he traveled home with me twice a year by plane. We went to the vet the day before we were leaving to get his health certificate and were gone two weeks generally. I am not sure I would fly with an animal now, as this was pre-9/11, but it was relatively uncomplicated in the late 90s. He traveled well, the one time they wanted me to take him out of his sherpa bag I insisted we go into a room and they allowed that.
I don’t think I would have made it through a PhD in Chemistry had I not had them with me. My cat gave me constant love since he was my “roommate” and the time with my horse gave me the get away from school and life I needed to recharge and push on through whatever my research problems were. My dissertation is dedicated to both of them, and they earned that degree as much as I did.
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Not a vet student but I lived in downtown Philly for years and boarded/rode. The commute to Chester County was a gaint PITA but there are barns less than 30 minutes away in NJ that are pretty easy to commute to. Likely also in the Bucks/MontCo direction…
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Per usual it depends. I’ve seen students (and had friends) do it successfully, but generally either 1) the horse is in a training program or 2) the horse is a laid back egg who doesn’t mind being ridden occasionally (and at a great barn where care/supervision isn’t a concern). More commonly, I’ve had students lease their horses out, lease one of ours, or just offer to ride whatever is available as their schedule allows.
Most undergraduates tend to take their horses back and forth for summer (and sometimes winter/spring) breaks, but most of the graduate/professional students just left their horses at school and arranged care for their time away. I once had a student ALMOST bring their horse from overseas, but at the last minute that didn’t happen for multiple reasons. All of my friends who have gone overseas for work/school ultimately decided to leave their animals here. (Leasing, lesson programs, retiring, or selling are all options.) So I’m not very helpful with that.
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I’m a third year vet student and can’t imagine having my horse with me at school - I just don’t have the time for that right now with how much time I spend studying and working.
Having said that, several of my classmates did bring their horses with them and make it out to the barn a few times a week. It’s do-able depending on what you prioritize and how you manage your time - but if you have a horse that needs to be in an intensive program, for example, it’s going to be a lot harder.
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I’m a graduate student currently and having my ponies has been a wonderful stress reliever for me. Don’t know that I would have gotten this far (will defend early next semester) without them! But I did not bring the ponies with me, I bought them after I moved.
I did however drive nearly 2,000 miles in a small SUV with one adult cat, one kitten, and one very elderly and very flatulent Labrador when I moved from my home state to grad school’s state.
Things that have made horse ownership easy/possible for me are living in a very inexpensive area in terms of horse keeping with readily available pasture board. Obviously affordability is key, but having access to 24/7 turnout also really made horse ownership possible. While I mostly ride frequently, there are times when I have not been able to (like right before I took my qualifying exams) and because they were out in a herd, it was not unfair to them to just give them a few weeks off and just pet and feed them daily. I don’t think I could have managed during those times if I kept them in a stall board situation where it was necessary that I provided their exercise every day just so they could get out.
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I had dogs and a horse through all of vet school. As long as the horse can handle the occasional light week or two without completely losing its marbles, it’s fine.
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It’s been DECADES but I did take my horse to school both undergrad and grad (vet school). I saw my horse maybe once a month while I was in vet school. He didn’t suffer terribly though because he was pretty young. I did not have him in training. My other horse was a broodmare that I sold while in vet school to another vet school student. I probably would have been better off selling both but I needed the emotional attachment and de-stressor that my horse gave me.
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Took both of mine with me to vet school and my internship, along with husband and six cats. My mare was retired, but I managed to keep my gelding in fairly consistent work through school; intern year was harder. We moved just two hours for school, but internship was halfway across the country. It can be done.
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I bought a horse when I started vet school, which I wouldn’t say I would recommend but worked for me. I loved having her around. Nice to have something goal-oriented (she was unbroke, not in pro training) to work on outside of school. I rode an average of 3-4 times a week in vet school and residency. I am lucky that my horse is also the type that could sit for a week and come out the same. She was also on field board with very good care so I could leave her when necessary. Mostly she stayed behind when I was on away rotations but sometimes I managed to figure out a way to bring her if the haul was moderate. Same with summer breaks. Honestly, it often seemed like more of a pain to manage having a dog for some of my classmates. I never had to worry about going home for pee breaks during long days in clinic etc. I prioritized high levels of care when finding boarding and paid for it with my commute distance.
However it is really individual and depends on your study style, social life, and your goals during school. I definitely had classmates who sold their horses during school bc they found it too stressful and couldn’t find time to ride. For me it was a stress outlet.
I have also lived overseas for academic reasons but never in countries where it would be reasonable to bring a horse or pets so have made alternate arrangements (family helped with pets, leased out the horse).
Definitely seriously consider the financial viability of a horse, especially if you will have lots of loans. Vet school is expensive as is, so the cost of your horse may end up being much more expensive than that monthly board bill when you add on years of compound interest …
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